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With each passing second, Daphne looked more and more uncomfortable. When she got to a point where it looked like her skin was pulling too tight for her bones, I broke. “Sit. Eat. Then, we'll talk.”

Stress apparently reduced my vocabulary to a few syllables.

Daphne looked at me skeptically but listened.

Before, she’d be halfway through a story, providing a level of detail she would worry was too much, while I was busy wanting more.

Now, her jaw shifted every few seconds, like she was consciously restraining the urge to speak to me.

Fine, two could play at that game.

Daphne lasted about five minutes before she started to resemble a pot full of boiling water.

“Out with it.”

Daphne’s shoulders visibly sagged. “I have no idea what’s wrong with me. I read every single text I could find on the history of the palace and not a single one mentioned problems with the barrier, which is even more frustrating because if it happened before then we at leastknowit can be fixed.” She inhaled deeply, before she took off again. “I just need to find a solution before it happens again because people are going to want answers and with everything happening with the catches, I know people are going to get really upset and they are probably going to take it out on me because everyone is still a little bit wary of Athena and that is the absolute last thing we need right now and then Adrian is probably going to lose his mind and—”

“Daphne.”

“I was trying to do damage control all morning, but everyone just kept looking at me like I haveAthena hates Poseidonwritten on my forehead.” Daphne wrapped her arms around her middle, to comfort and protect, and my control snapped.

I leaned forward and cut her off with a hand pressed lightly over her mouth. No amount of rage—and there was plenty—would let me sit there and watch her ramble herself into a panic.

“I need you to physically stop me,” Daphne said, wringing her hands together. “When I get like that, and I can’t stop talking, I can’t hear you telling me it’s going to be okay. You need to touch me.”

I didn’t give a shit if this was too far, because the only thing more powerful than my anger was my instinctual desire to make sure Daphne didn’t have a panic attack.

Daphne’s eyes went wide, the gold specks in her hazel eyes popping.

“Breathe, Daphne.” She didn’t listen, her breath still trapped in her chest.

“Let me make something clear. You might have technically been the one to break the barrier. As for the catches, I’m not convinced there’s another explanation. But this does not take away from all the work you’ve done over the years. This court wants you to lead, regardless of where your power originated from.”

And because the fear hadn’t quite dispelled from her eyes, I added. “And if that doesn’t work, we rename Athens to Poseidon City.”

Daphne nodded her head, her cheeks pushing against my palm with a hidden smile. “Okay,” she murmured against my hand.

My hand was back by my side like it had been burned. “That being said,” I started, anything to distract myself from the lash of hunger whipping through my middle. “We should delay the power transfer until as close to the wedding as we can get it. We can’t risk it transferring to me.”

Daphne’s eyebrows pinched together, and I felt it in my chest. “Won’t that make everyone think something is wrong?”

I shook my head. “There’s no rulebook for this. We just decided to do it earlier, but we can do it close to the wedding. Use Dominic and Rose as an excuse if we need.”

“They did it close to the wedding?” Daphne asked. I could feel her cross her legs, the static of her skin jumping to mine across the few inches between our knees.

My skin hummed behind the fabric of my pants, but my chest was starting to twist back up. “They did it during the ceremony.”

Daphne opened her mouth, then closed it.

“I wasn’t there,” I supplied, answering her silent question. “Guess that makes two of us.”

I’d meant it to be a lighthearted jab, but the residual pain of her absence forced the words out tighter than I wanted. They certainly landed like the lash of a whip, pulling Daphne’s shoulders tense. She sat as far back in her chair as the design would allow. As far as she could get from me.

I couldn’t say I blamed her.

“When did this start? The catches dropping?”

I dragged a hand through my beard. A lot of days over the past year were muddled together. “Earlier this summer. Right as it turned over from winter and spring species. Everything seemed fine, and then it just started steadily declining.”